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Subject: An interesting position - what do your programs think of this?

Author: Andrew Williams

Date: 10:49:50 06/30/99


This position occurred in a game between PostModernist and ArasanX on ICC.
(NB ArasanX's notes say that it is an experimental version of Arasan, which
may be weaker than the latest release - I mention this because this is the
only game PM has won against ArasanX on ICC). The reason it caught my
attention is that White seems (at least to me, a very weak player) to have
almost no advantage. Although there's an advanced passed pawn, it seems to
be well-marshalled by Black.

The position that interests me occurs after Black's 29th move:

4k3/1p4p1/2pbP2p/2Rn4/8/r2P2Pq/4QP1P/4R1K1 w - - 0 30

It turns out that this position is completely won for White. My program found
what looks to be the best move (Rxd5) in 40 seconds - this with the benefit
of the TT being full of information from previous searches. From a "standing
start", it takes 46 seconds. On my machine, crafty v16.7 takes 32 seconds.
I'm interested to know how long it takes other programs to find Rxd5!, or
any other crushing move. I'm also interested in what static value your programs
place on the Pawn on d6 (mine thinks it's worth 1.88 pawns).


The full game is:

[Event "ICS rated blitz match"]
[Site "207.99.83.229"]
[Date "1999.06.29"]
[Round "-"]
[White "PostModernist"]
[Black "ArasanX"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2578"]
[BlackElo "2546"]
[TimeControl "600+5"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bc5 5. d3 d6 6. Bg2 h6 7. a3 a5 8. O-O
O-O 9. e3 Bb6 10. Qe2 Bf5 11. Re1 Qd7 12. Na4 Ba7 13. Nc3 Bh3 14. Bxh3 Qxh3
15. b3 Bc5 16. Bb2 Ra6 17. Nb5 Bb6 18. c5 dxc5 19. Bxe5 Nxe5 20. Nxe5 c6
21. Nd6 Bc7 22. Nexf7 Rxf7 23. Nxf7 Kxf7 24. Rac1 Ke8 25. e4 a4 26. bxa4
Rxa4 27. e5 Nd5 28. Rxc5 Rxa3 29. e6 Bd6 30. Rxd5 cxd5
{ArasanX resigns} 1-0


Best regards,

Andrew Williams



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